On the year gone by

Its been an eventful year in the US, politically speaking.   We have finally realized their is a constituency for fascism in our county, thanks to The Donald.  At least 30% of the electorate is pining for a dictator to make their decisions for them and Trump is down with that.  Making America Great Again, whatever that means, is the platform on which this Rube Goldberg authoritarianism will be built.  It remains to be seen if more than that benighted 30% have an appetite for this type of government.  As Argentina and many other Latin American countries have demonstrated over the years the yen for a strongman or "decider" is an atavistic yearning for many.  Cooler heads are likely to prevail in 2016, but a timely terrorist attack could unhinge enough people to make this dark fantasy come true.  President Obama remains cool in the face of constant sniping by those who question his commitment to the country.  As someone who harbored dark fantasies about the Shrub's supposed plans to declare martial law and become a dictator, I think I understand the critics, but in the main, I believe most opposition to Obama is strictly driven by racism.  Another phenomenon which was finally recognized this year was the wholesale killing of Americans by the police departments which are supposed to "serve and protect" citizens.  Here again, racism is the proximate cause of most of the killings as a mostly white police force in many cases police a brown or black neighborhood where residents are considered the enemy.  I hope we begin to tackle these problems in the new year, but election year politics will probably pollute the process.  On a personal note, the garden was an up and down enterprise and will likely be smaller and more manageable next year.  The grandchildren continue to grow and prosper and the Divine Mrs. M remains very much so.  As the final grains of sand empty from the glass of 2015, I wish everyone who reads this a happy and prosperous and progressive NewYear.

Gaming the system

What do police officers in Cleveland, hedge fund billionaires in New York and a drunken teenager in Texas have in common?   It would seem that they all benefit from a system that is heavily weighted in their favor.  For the cops in Cleveland it is a justice system which virtually eliminates any penalties for killing civilians they are supposed to be protecting, especially if they are black or brown skinned.  As many have pointed out, if Tamir Rice had been a white boy in an affluent neighborhood with  a toy gun, he probably would have had a stern talking to.  Instead, Rice was shot within seconds of police arrival in his poor, mostly black neighborhood.  Meanwhile, the NYT points out in an article this morning that the 400 richest families in the US, using sophisticated lobbying and large political contributions have actually seen their tax liabilities fall as a percentage below that faced by people reporting $100,000 per year income.  Elaborate shell corporations and money laundering techniques are not available even to many in the top 1% of earners.  Finally, the affluenza defense which got a drunk Texas teen off with probation after he hit and killed four people stopped by the side of a road to aid a disabled motorist will probably help him escape serious jail time again after he violated probation and fled to Mexico.  These examples of flagrant favoritism by the law threaten to undermine the very fabric of American life.  Our country was built on the belief that all should be treated equally under the law.  How can we long endure this inequality?

Weather for winter sissies

Waking up to 6 inches of snow and more coming down is a reminder that despite climate change and this blog's referral to my location as the North Country Riviera or NCR, winter is a cruel mistress in the North Country.   Basking in 60 degree temps on Christmas day to shoveling snow 3 days later is a brutal way to acknowledge December.  Having my snowblower break the chain on the augur was merely the icing on the cake of my misery.  Freezing rain is next on Mother Nature's agenda, so power outages are also a possibility.  The last major weather event in the area was a major ice storm in 1999 courtesy of El Nino.  I don't want to contemplate the possibility of something similar in 2016.  Meanwhile, I hope today's weather is not a preview of the rest of the winter.   In a have your cake and eat it scenario, I want the warmer weather climate change brings but without the horrific by products.

O come even the not so faithful

The last strains of the O Come all ye Faithful had finished bouncing off the ceiling of St. Agnes church in Lake Placid and the ever smiling Divine Mrs.  M was bidding farewell to her fellow singers at the end of a long season of weekly rehearsals.  The Northern Adirondack vocal Ensemble had just finished a presentation of Nine Lessons and Carols for the Christmas season.   All across America, singing groups have presented everything Christmas, from the majestic strains of Handel's Messiah to the more mundane "It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas".  Most of the performers are unpaid amateurs who do it for the love of singing and the season.  It is a convivial tradition which seems to survive despite the mounting tensions Christmas seems to exacerbate.  In an increasingly multicultural nation, the obligatory celebration of a Christian holiday would seem to be at best a mild insult to non-Christians.  But Christmas somehow seems to overcome its parochial origins and invites everyone to partake of the religious or the secular side of the holiday.  Much as it appropriated ancient pagan festivals celebrating the winter solstice, Christianity overwhelms all other religions in the western world for a short time at the end of the year with a feeling of goodwill.  As have many others, I lament the sentiments expressed so eloquently by choirs around the country cannot carry through the year.

Radical Economics

As the invaluable Paul Krugman pointed out in his column this morning, the economic plans laid out for our perusal by all the republican candidates for president blow up the federal deficit with the efficiency of a hydrogen bomb.  Jeb! and the Donald lead the pack with deficit busting tax cuts which benefit the top one tenth of 1% of income earners.  Their unspoken corollary is that to make the cuts "deficit neutral" they would propose shredding the social safety net which more and more of our fellow citizens depend on.  As Krugman points out, the only time the republicans worry about the deficit is when a democrat is President.  They never worry about anyone not in the top 10% of income.    At least Trump is speaking to the rest of the country when he defends Social Security and Medicare.  That is why his poll numbers remain strong.   Even GOP voters have figured out the shell game most of the others are playing.

I'll be home for Christmas

After the mad rush of the approach to Christmas it will be a joy to spend the day with family at Casa Monzeglio.    Three grandchildren will be there to remind me of the excitement such a gathering can cause.   All three are young enough that they have not reached the stage where disappointment is as much a part of Christmas as joy.  The incredibly mild weather is another reason to cheer, although the implications are a different story.  However, this is a Christmas Eve scribble, so I won't mention the environment, politics or any other button pushing issues.  Let's spend at least one day counting our blessings and enjoying the company of family and friends.   Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, Kwanzaa, Chanukkah and any other holiday you can conjure.

The New Political Correctness

Where can you start with Donald Trump.  After making fun of Hillary's bathroom break at the Democratic debate last week, he went one better and used a Yiddish vulgarism describing a sexual assault to describe her loss of the Dem nomination in 2008 to President Obama.  Without a doubt, I have been in men's locker rooms with more decorum.  The inspiration for this blog, my dear friend Jerry Shulman would have been shocked to hear The Donald use his beloved Yiddish used to denigrate another human being.  To borrow from him, I would say Trump is the anti-mensch.  How this incarnation of what most  of us are ashamed of: racism, sexism, misogyny and plain mean spiritedness is within striking distance of a major party's presidential nomination is a sad commentary on our national dysfunction.  The long, slow devolution of the GOP to become the mouthpiece for the politics of hatred has been documented by many, but there will be a plethora of books devoted to the final descent of the party to its present depths.  The revulsion most of the country feels when the present front-runner for the republican nomination speaks will be manifested in the election results next November...I hope.

Shortest Day

It's easy to imagine a huddle of druids at Stonehenge on a Winter Solstice day 3000 years ago, waiting for the Sun to proclaim the shortest day of the year.  Without our astronomical certainty of the change of seasons, ancient peoples resorted to monuments and festivals to mark the change from dark to light.  The lengthening nights and paucity of light makes me a little crazy this time of year, so the prospect of even 4 more seconds of light tomorrow is enough to merit a celebration.  Banishing the night and celebrating the day is in our collective DNA.  The early Christians jumped on this solstice festival to legitimize their new religion and Christmas was born.  Shortly thereafter, the War on Christmas was declared, at least in the fevered imagination of Bill O'Reilly. 

The cult of Putin

In the feckless corner of America inhabited by those who pine for a "strong leader" there is ever more love for Russia's president.   Vladimir Putin has fired the imaginations of authoritarians who want someone else to tell them what to think and what to do.  What's the next best thing for this aging mostly white male cohort with a disdain for an intellectual black president.   Enter The Donald.  Killing a few of the media scum, invading and annexing another country's territory, intervening in another nation's civil war is all in a day's work for Vlad.  In his quest to make America great again, Trump proclaims Putin's tactics as great leadership.  Much as the Italians of the 1920s and Germans in the 1930s lauded Mussolini and Hitler as strong leaders, some now proclaim Putin's policies as a panacea to solve our problems.  Russia's brief flirtation with democracy is now over, but hopefully there are enough Americans who realize self governance is a messy enterprise without easy answers. 

Seasonal nostalgia

After spending a weekend immersed in the sounds of the holidays, it is hard to get back to the workaday world.  The familiar music evokes the more innocent days of childhood when December was for many of us baby boomers a long buildup to the joys of Christmas morning.  It was a combination of guilt and glee as we tried to balance our reverence for the birth of Christ with our bourgeoning materialism.  This dichotomy still haunts me, although the religious aspect of Christmas has long been erased from my consciousness.  The Messiah by Handel still gives me chills and challenges the easy dismissal of the spiritual aspect of the season.  The inspiration of this music and much of the sacred reparatory of Christmas is inspiring, no matter how it can be analyzed.   As the Divine Mrs. M and I listened to the last strains of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", it was hard to say Bah, Humbug.  The Scrooge in me was hearing the better angels of my nature.  The Flying Spaghetti Monster "Bless us, Everyone".

Hosed for the holidays

The confluence of the arrest of Martin Shkreli for fraud and the opening of the movie "The Big Short" once again exposes the greed and shortsightedness of the elite in this new gilded age.  Shkreli has become the poster child of the 21st century story of the utter disregard most on Wall St. and Big Pharma hold their fellow citizens.  His cartoonish villainy is of the Snidely Whiplash variety; namely stupid cruelty for the sake of deriding those of us who feel a little empathy for those less fortunate.  First, he jacked the price of a life saving drug by 5000% because he could.  Feeding on the public revulsion of this action, he next purchased the only copy of a Wu Tang Clan album in order to deprive everyone else of the possibility of hearing it (no problem for me).  His mocking of virtually everyone who is not Martin Shkreli is the story of his contempt for the "little people".   Now indicted, I doubt too many tears will be shed when his sentence is read. The Big Short, on the other hand is the meticulously told story of how many on Wall St. lost their moral compass in the quest to make astronomical amounts of money and how a few profited by betting against them when their proverbial chickens came home to roost.  Many of the country's opinion makers are horrified that the unwashed will see this movie and be educated as to the scam perpetrated on the public in the latter years of the Shrub's administration.  We can only hope that Shkreli gets his just desserts and the rest of us view the cautionary tale of The Big Short as a blueprint for a kinder, gentler financial system.

The "New Economy"

The Fed, bowing to pressure from banking interests has finally raised the benchmark interest rate it charges member banks.  From near 0 to at least a quarter per cent, the raise is not expected to tighten the screws on the economy too much, but an article about a union settlement in Kohler, Wisconsin yesterday caught my eye and vividly contradicted Janet Yellin's rosy predictions.  The union in Kohler voted to ratify a new contract with the Kohler Corporation, best known for high end plumbing fixtures.   The contract solidifies and two tier wage system.  Veteran employees make up to $23.00/hr., while new hires, doing the same jobs make about half that wage.   Many on both sides of the divide agree the newer employees can't possibly raise families on that kind of wage.  Despite the continued profitability of Kohler, whose chairman is worth $7.4 billion, the company threatened to move jobs to factories in the southern US or overseas if the union insisted on wage parity.  So instead of a new generation starting families and building homes, you have an underclass, living with their parents and failing to start their American Dream.  According to the Fed, we might as well get used to it as the new economic normal.  Thanks Janet, but maybe you should get out more and stop listening to the $5000.00 suits who keep telling you everything is coming up roses.

The Force is always with us

As the juggernaut "Star Wars The Force Awakens" takes aim at all time box office records this weekend, many people question its hold on the cultural zeitgeist.  After all, the first movie was described as a space opera with cartoonish characters who made a serviceable sequel, but then descended into varying levels of mediocrity during the next four pictures in the series.  Advance reviews are mostly favorable, indicating JJ Abrams has resurrected the franchise for another round.  What prompts grown men and women to dress up as storm troopers, hairy aliens and robots in homage to the movies?  In my humble opinion, George Lucas tapped into a primal need of people in the late 70s.   America was digesting the awful defeat of our empire at the hands of the Viet Cong, the Nixon Administration had proved to be a nest of liars and the energy crisis of 1973 had buffeted the economy for the first time since the Korean War.  Instead of this moral, economic and political debacle, Lucas offered us the surety of good guys triumphing over evil, even if only for a moment.  Luke Skywalker is everyman, Princess Leia is the combination of the damsel in distress and proto-feminist and Han Solo is the redemption of all our wasted youth.  Obi Wan Kenobi represented to me the enduring values our civilization is built on.   You don't have the layered intellectualism of a Kubrick or a Jean Cocteau.  It's more like an extended Saturday afternoon B movie western, but the special effects are tremendous and the story is timeless.  I'll wait til the crush at my local multiplex  lessens sometime next week, but I hope the Divine Mrs. M and I get to see the newest installment in the saga  before Christmas.

Predicability

It was almost a no-brainer (pun intended) when the republican candidates for President gathered in Las Vegas last night.   Advising us to wet our pants in terror of ISIS inspired gunmen and endorse WW3 with Russia over no fly zones in Syria (that's where my leakage started), the candidates sought to outdo each other as our security daddies.  Disregarding the fact more Americans die at the hands of police violence and fellow citizens every year than have been killed by terrorists since the country's founding, we were told we need to give up our privacy rights and most of the other guarantees of the constitution (except of course the right to own our very own arsenal of democracy) in the name of defeating a rag-tag bunch of Saddam Hussein's former army commanders and assorted Muslim jihadists.  This is what passes for national security debates among GOP candidates.  Certainly last night's festivities disqualified most if not all of the erstwhile candidates from getting within  a Brett Favre hail mary of the nuclear football.  The scary part is one of this motley crew will be the standard bearer for one of the two major political parties in our country.  May the Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on our souls!

Work in Progress

The world climate conference in Paris is finally over.   The delegates listened to some feel good remarks by world leaders and relaxed a little after haggling over everything from responsibility for climate change to punctuation  of the conference's final document.  Everyone is going home to start the harder job of forging a consensus among the world's population that everyone needs to do their part to avoid a climate catastrophe in coming decades and centuries.  How they will sell the bitter pill of fossil fuel avoidance and reliance on new technologies is one problem.  How to get the wealthy, developed nations to share with the less fortunate is the other.  Despite President Obama's stirring remarks to the attendees, he must now do battle with a know nothing republican party whose raison d'etre has and continues to be relentless opposition to anything he proposes or any cause he espouses.  Powerful media antagonists, including Faux News and Rush Limbaugh will do little to educate their benighted viewers and listeners or will actively disinform them of the very real results on the climate of doing nothing.  With upwards of 97% of scientists convinced of the man made origins of climate disruption, we can't afford to kick the can down the road for the next generation to deal with.  How the present population of the planet behaves over the next 50 years will probably influence life on the Blue Planet for many generations. 

My religion, not thine

As the Donald struggles to show his religious bona fides to the evangelical set, he is setting up the GOP for a huge fail.   Showing little tolerance for other faiths, the modern Republican party will make itself increasingly irrelevant and indeed frightful to those of other religious persuasions or the increasing minority of atheists and agnostics.  The confluence of  hard right politics and the evangelical sects' intolerance is a heady brew, but one which only a minority of the electorate is comfortable with.  I daresay Trump has not been inside a church in decades, and his new found faith is unlikely to sway the bible bangers.  The less scary but nevertheless more dangerous Ted Cruz will probably be the alternative for those who love the old time religion.   Besides many passages in the Old Testament, the religious right and hard line Islam have one very inflammatory doctrine in common.  They both preach intolerance of other religions.  They both feel conflict between them is inevitable and both feel they will win, whatever the cost. 

Gathering storm

It looks like there will be a full on battle between those of us who believe in an inclusive, caring society and the racist, misogynistic, homophobes who make up the core of the Republican party and are the driving force of Donald Trump's campaign.   I don't mean a physical battle, although there will be skirmishes.  The soul of America is at stake, and the battle will be for hearts and minds.  The 30% or so of the population that supported anything the Shrub did will fuel Trump's campaign of hate for anyone is not like "us".   It is up to the rest of us to support those who would counter this view with a message of inclusion and a plan to alleviate the pain and suffering which has driven many to embrace a nihilistic view of our current society.  As Bernie Sanders points out, the economy which is weighted toward the 1% has left many behind and their angst is fueling the demagogues on the right.   While the Democrats don't have anyone with Trump's charisma, either Hillary or Bernie can make the case for economic inclusion which should draw off much of his strength.  We all need to listen to our better angels, especially as we enter the Christmas season.

The Banality of Evil

Was Hannah Arendt's description of the Nazi death machine during WW2.  It consisted mainly of normal people leading otherwise normal lives, but swept into the management of concentration camps and their attendant horrors.    As long as most of those bureaucrats did the job they were tasked with, the system allowed the killing of 6,000,000 Jews and other "undesirables".  Most of us think we would never participate in such a crime, but faced with the retribution if you disobeyed your orders, how many family men and women would expose their own families to hardship and possible death to save a faceless, nameless human being.   For every Schindler, there are hundreds of Eichmanns who obeyed orders and wittingly participated in racial extermination.  Nearer to our own time is the "ethnic cleansing" in Serbia.  Again, it was abetted by many otherwise exemplary citizens, although there were some monsters in both cases.   The internment of American citizens of Japanese origin during WW2 is a shame the US must bear.  Despite some individual heroism, most who participated in the roundup and imprisonment of fellow citizens did so without question.  The possibility of a Trump Administration fills me with foreboding.   The Donald is banal and evil.  What could possibly go wrong!

So it begins

I stole a few minutes last night to devote to study of the new Johnny's Seed Catalog, the bible for Almena Gardens.   I have been ordering seeds in increasing quantities from Johnnys for more than 20 years and it is my go to source for information.   My resolve to cut back on gardening in 2016  remains strong, but the siren call of new varieties is getting hard to resist.  I almost feel like I need to be tied to the mast or maybe the rototiller!   Must not give in.....

New Reality

The near universal condemnation of Donald Trump's call to exclude all muslims from the US is heartening, but the fact he was cheered by a crowd while making his outlandish declaration of bigotry is also a reminder of the racist history our country struggles against with varying degrees of success.  The fact Trump felt he could make his proposal with impunity is merely the logical extension of the dogwhistle politics Republicans have engaged in since Nixon's "southern strategy" pried racist southern Democrats away from their traditional allegiances and made them permanent Republicans.  Reagan continued and George H.W. Bush embellished the appeals to racism with Reagan's "welfare queens" and Bush's Willie Horton ads.  Trump merely says out loud what his competitors whisper, namely it is all right to discriminate against those whose customs and color don't match your own.  How far he gets with this strategy will be a measure of our maturity as a nation.  Unfortunately, H.L. Mencken's observation that you can't go wrong underestimating the intelligence of the American public will probably be borne out in the selection of the ultimate Republican nominee.

through the looking glass

Were Lewis G Carroll alive today, he would probably conclude the entire concept behind Alice in Wonderland was outmoded.   Donald Trump is the true Alice and he is taking us all on an excursion to a new Wonderland where weakness is strength, rational thought is fantasy and 300,000,000 million people need to cower before a couple of radicalized  Muslims.  The idea we should deny entry to the US based on the religion of the applicant is beyond parody.  As many have pointed out, Trump is now probably the biggest recruiter in the country for ISIS.   I remember in the aftermath of 9/11 how Sikh truckers delivering Canadian produce to the US were vilified and attacked because they wore turbans.  Fear of the "other" is a powerful force.  Beware anyone who advocates discrimination based on fear.   

Economics and Terrorism

Once again, the news which really affects most Americans; trade, jobs, climate change and local news is being crowded out by the ephemeral, non-stop 24 hour obsession with terrorism and what the President is doing or not doing to keep us safe.  Not the 80-100 people who die from gun violence every day.  There is nothing we can do for them, since it would interfere with our 2nd amendment rights.  No, we should turn our country into an authoritarian nightmare to stop terrorists who may kill us where we work, play or live.  Republicans are falling all over themselves to criticize the President for not proposing some fascist daydream to deter someone like the San Bernadino shooters, but if he had suggested we take away Joe six pack's assault rifle as part of a sensible plan to reduce the supply of death sticks, there would be howls of protest.  Meanwhile, the Fed is raising interest rates although the economy remains sluggish and much of the rest of the world is doing even worse.  This action will probably have far more impact on the country than radicalized Muslims, but you would never know it from the media coverage.   In more mundane news, the garden continues to produce with kale, nappa cabbage and carrots harvested over the weekend and golf continues to be played, albeit not very well.  The Divine Mrs. M's Champlain Valley Voices concert was a great success and we are looking forward to more holiday music from her other singing ensemble in the near future.

Reality and proportionality

In a rational, logical world, the horrors of the San Bernadino shooting would never occur.  Instead of 24/7 coverage of everything related to the tragedy and its aftermath, most news coverage in the US would be focused on the Paris climate summit.  The 14 people who lost their lives are emblematic of the dysfunctional world brought to us by a deranged political party.  The republicans in the Senate voted down a bill which would have made it harder for anyone on the terrorist watch list to obtain weapons.  The same stupidity was on display when the majority leader in the House of Representatives stated his party's opposition to any pledge the President makes at the Paris conference on behalf of the US.  The problem of gun violence is pernicious and deadly to thousands of citizens each year.  The problem of climate change can potentially end human civilization as we know it.  Virtually every country at least acknowledges both challenges.  Only the US and to a lesser extent, Australia have no coherent policy to at least work towards solutions.  Even Australia has tackled the gun problem.  That leaves one political party in one country with the awesome responsibility of addressing the most pressing issue in human history and so far the Republicans are failing in a most spectacular fashion.  I hope the 2016 elections are a referendum on guns and climate.   A pretty large majority of Americans acknowledge climate change and feel we must have sensible gun control measures.  Let's hope they all make it to voting booths around the country next November.

Another Day, another mass shooting

Even as the national media obsesses about the dead and wounded in San Bernadino, 4 more people were shot in Georgia overnight.  We are on track to record 1 or more of these massacres every day this year.   The hand wringing continues, even as it is now suggested that football fans should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to games!  There are solutions to this problem, but seemingly no one with any authority feels empowered to offer them.  If we treat guns with at least as much care as we do automobiles it would go a long way toward slowing the slaughter in the streets.  Register every firearm and license all gun owners.  Neither of these actions will impinge our so called second amendment rights, but will at least give criminals and the mentally ill some pause.  Background checks and perhaps advanced psychological testing for those seeking the right to wield firearms would be another check.  Something needs to be done before death by gunshot overtakes disease and vehicular accidents as the number one cause of death in America.

Global warming chickens coming home to roost

As made clear by a NYT article on the plight of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean due to rising sea levels, climate change will be costly to the US beyond the amelioration of its effects on the homeland.  Due to treaty obligations to the Marshallese, we will probably have to resettle the entire population in the US if the seas continue to rise.   This may be the tip of the proverbial iceberg of refugees demanding haven.  Meanwhile, the GOP is renouncing in advance any obligations the country may incur at the Paris Climate Summit.   It is increasingly ironic that aside from an occasional weather event like Superstorm Sandy or the ongoing drought in  California, most of the US has not experienced wholesale destruction due to climate change.  For the rest of the world, especially many countries in the Third World, the rising seas, catastrophic drought and super typhoons which regularly ravage their citizens, the changing climate is an ever present reminder their troubles are largely caused by the superpowers of polluters, the US, China, Europe and developing countries like India and Brazil.   Of the aforementioned, most are trying to do something about the problem.   In America, however, denial of climate change is more common than plans to do anything about it.   If Paris is the last, best hope for the human race, I despair of our congressional leadership doing anything substantive.

Climate Luddites

We will soon be treated to the spectacle of the US House of Representatives voting to not support anything President Obama commits the country to do to mitigate climate change at the Paris conference.  While this will not surprise most people it is deeply embarrassing for anyone who values our standing in the world.  After 8 years of the Shrub's jingoistic foreign policy which unilaterally declared we will do whatever we feel is best for us and to hell with everyone else, Obama's initial approach raised our reputation.  Between drone strikes and the Arab spring, we have lost some of that luster, but by thumbing our noses at the rest of the world on the climate change issue, we risk becoming a pariah, instead of a leader.   The ignorance on display in Congress on a daily basis is breathtaking as well as mendacious.  I have a feeling even a Republican president would have trouble wrangling this pack of know-nothing jackasses.   The fate of the human race may very well hang in the balance and we have to listen to the likes of Ted Cruz tell us the accumulating evidence of disaster ahead of us is a conspiracy of scientists!   To do what?  The mind reels at the stupidity of such statements.  

Seasonal changes

With cooler temperatures, I spent a good part of the weekend gleaning final harvests from the garden and preparing for next season.  The nappa cabbage was still in good shape after thawing on Thursday and Friday, so I packed 20 heads and will store them in the garage where the temperature stays at least 10 degrees warmer than outside.  Ditto for a bushel of leeks which will wind up in winter soups and stews.  I mulched and covered the last carrot bed with straw and plastic so we can harvest fresh carrots until the inevitable deep freezes of late December and January.  There are still plenty of beets out there as well as kale and collards.  The long range forecast is predicting fairly mild temps for the next couple of weeks, so harvest will continue.  I also prepared a couple of beds for early spinach planting next spring.   Keeping one foot in each season is part of the gardening cycle which connects us to the next year.   It's a lifestyle choice, as opposed to a one or two month commitment. 

The Day after

Now that we have given thanks for our many blessings, it is time to begin the "War on Christmas", at least according to some.   Black Friday, Local Saturday, Cyber Monday, etc.  are priming people for the orgy of spending that has come to define our celebration of the Winter Solstice.  I would guess most of us pay at least lip service to the birthday of western civilization's most influential philosopher, but "keeping Christ in Christmas" is an afterthought as the press of holiday events pushes us to the breaking point.   As those who think of themselves as Christians become a smaller part of the population, the whole reason behind the holiday becomes increasingly tenuous.  Kwanza, Festivus and other, pagan traditions are efforts to reconcile the American experience with Christian expressions of the holiday.  It's not your mother's Christmas anymore Virginia, but yes, there is a Santa Claus!

Thanksgiving

Despite all the horrific news we are inundated with on a daily basis, for most people this century is the best for human beings since the dawn of history.   For advanced nations, most communicable diseases have been controlled, citizens have enough to eat and education is readily available.  Labor saving devices and the internet have revolutionized our relationship to the everyday business of staying alive with minimal effort.  We are working more hours for the privilege, but as robots and other labor replacing devices multiply, the challenge will be to keep human beings engaged in the economy.  There are many who would say this is the worst of times.  The environment is being degraded at a horrific rate, we still have nuclear weapons capable of ending civilization in a heartbeat and many people still live a precarious existence, subject to the whims of weather and their corrupt leaders.  However, the best and brightest are working on solutions to many of our most pressing problems and if we manage to advance to the next level, our descendants may well say this era was the greatest test of humanity and we passed it.  That is my hope for this Thanksgiving, as my children and grandchildren gather at Casa Monzeglio to celebrate our good fortune in the year 2015.

Cold reality

Light snow is falling as I scribble these words.  The chill reminder that winter is upon us rebukes my exuberant rant on the extended beautiful fall weather we have been experiencing.  Temperatures are supposed to warm as we make our way to the Thanksgiving holiday, but the warning shot has been fired.  Meanwhile in the political world, it looks like The Donald may have finally gone to far when he continued to insist his revisionist history of thousands cheering in Jersey City as the Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11.   Despite no video evidence to back his rant and increasing demands from the media for a "put up or shut up" moment, Trump is doubling down.  In the face of mounting evidence he is totally wrong, will his support finally begin to crumble?   His entire campaign has been an exercise in bombast and fact free expostulations, but I think even he has finally gone to far.  Seduced by the siren  call of his voice and its effect on mass audiences he has actually begun to believe the crap he spews.   When the con man believes his own spiel, the show has come to an end.

It might as well be spring

At least for the moment, things are still coming up roses on the NCR.   While the garden is not growing at a gangbuster pace, some items, like broccoli and collards are still producing.  The carrots have stopped, but with a little mulch, I'll be digging some for Christmas dinner.  I actually had to mow the lawn for the last time (I hope) on Nov. 20!    It seemed incongruous to be putting up Christmas lights at the same time.  Of course, all good things must come to an end, but we'll keep eating out of the garden for as long as possible, and did I mention playing golf also.

Leadership and the sheeple

Francois Hollande and Hillary Clinton gave a seminar on leadership to the inhabitants of the republican clown car yesterday.   Hollande made it clear France will not be cowed by ISIS.  Defying the cult of hate to do their worst, he also affirmed the French will not back down and will continue to welcome refugees from Syria.  Clinton, making a major foreign policy speech outlined a plan to destroy ISIS by military and economic means and also called for American hospitality to those fleeing the terror in Syria and Iraq.  A majority of democrats have responded to this reasonable, nuanced display of leadership.  Contrast this with the pearl clutching terror of Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, et. al.  We also have the spectacle of the Donald calling for a national Muslim database requiring all adherents of Islam to register with the federal government.   When asked what difference this scheme had with the registration of Jews in Nazi Germany, his reply was chilling;  "What do you think?".   Naturally, the overwhelming majority of republicans responded to this cowardice by telling polls they want to pull the welcome mat from under the feet of those most in need.  Leadership is in short supply in a political party which has lost its collective mind.

Ashamed of America

Since 9/11, 785,000 people have been admitted to the US under the refugee program.  Of those, 3 have been convicted on terrorism related charges.  The mostly republican politicians who would bar new refugees from Syria from settling in their states and in some cases expel those who have already settled there should be ashamed of their craven pandering to the worst instincts of their constituents.  Much like the failure of my country to accept 10,000 children fleeing the Nazis in 1939, we are again in danger of betraying our better natures.   When Chris Christie says he would reject a 3 year old orphan because of a potential danger at some time in the future it makes me sick.  Christie and others of his ilk dishonor everything we like to believe this country stands for.  Enough said.

An old embarrassing tradition

For those who are acutely embarrassed by the mean spirited lack of compassion shown by many politicians for Syrian refugees, know that they are acting in a time honored way and voicing the real feelings of many of their constituents.  When asked if the US should take in 10,000 Jewish children in 1939, 61% of Americans said no.  Why should we hold our representatives to a higher standard than we are willing to meet?   From the Know Nothing party of the 1840s to the "No Irish need apply" signs which appeared in the latter part of the century to today's birthers, truthers and climate deniers, ignorance has been a large part of our discourse.   Unfortunately, the descendants of many persecuted minorities are now the persecutors who would deny refugees the safety of America's shores.   The spectacle of Chris Christie proudly telling an interviewer he would deny succor to 3 year old Syrian orphans tells us all we need to know about America in 2015.  If the Statue of Liberty could weep, she surely would.  

Disheartening but predictable

The same folks who refused to try the Guantanamo detainees in US courts because they were terrorists are back to deny sanctuary to refugees fleeing the war in Syria.  As one republican put it, "out of 10,000, you may have 9,999 innocents and one fully trained terrorist and you have a problem.  The politics of fear are never ending strategy for republicans.  In the wake of 9/11, their only prescription for the American people besides shopping was to be very afraid and leave the governing to them.  You remember where that led.  Where is the trumpeting of our exceptionalism now?  We have the spectacle of republican governors threatening to deny Syrians haven in their states.  The politics of fear are ugly and they promote division among citizens.   Why do republicans on the one hand hold us up as manly men and on the other encourage us to hide under our beds and beg our politicians to protect us?  This emperor has no clothes and it's about time someone points this out.

Paris and fear for the sake of fear

Everyone with an ounce of empathy should be uniting in solidarity with the citizens of Paris as they try to make sense of the tragedy of last Friday.  Using the terror attack as a political issue is another story.   Especially when politicians in the US, mainly republicans cast the coordinated attacks as a war on western civilization that must be responded to with military force.  This is the rabbit hole leading to a wonderland where privacy means unlimited government surveillance, peace means perpetual war and religion means Christianity.  Who would want to live in such a world.  Ted Cruz, I guess is one who would.   Why worry about killing innocent civilians by the thousand if we can take out one terrorist?  Obviously, the GOP presidential candidates can't argue with the fact no terrorist attacks have taken place on American soil on Obama's watch (as opposed to the Shrub), so they have to blame the government for being "weak on terror".  Give me a break...  Weakness is encouraging your constituents to fear for their safety as a political strategy.

Back in the USA

Can't say it is great to be back home.   The Divine Mrs. M and I had a great time in Italy.   While we enjoyed the tourist venues we visited in  Venice, Florence and Rome, we particularly treasured the 2 days we spent in the ancestral Monzeglio home in Vignale Monferrato in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.   There is very little tourism in that part of the country, but the people we encountered were warm and helpful despite the fact they spoke little or no English and we reciprocated with our butchered Italian.  One of our namesakes took an entire day to show us around town and help us understand how a small town in the country survives over time.  I told him we will try to get back sometime in the near future to visit again.  Taken altogether it was the trip of a lifetime and worth every penny.  My souvenir was an additional 5 pounds I'll have to work off in the next couple of weeks. 

Lies, money and videotape

Most of the Republican candidates for president have discovered that despite the ease of checking falsehoods on the internet, it is even easier to deny the truth by questioning the motives of the media.  Such was Ben Carson's ploy when asked about his connection with the bogus health claims of an internet marketer.  Virtually everyone outside of the Republican bubble knows the supplement marketer Mannatech  is a cornucopia of false health claims and they actively sought and received Carson's endorsement and paid him handsomely.  However, instead of admitting this, he lied outright and the audience booed the questioner who tried to follow up with more pointed inquiries.  This hearkens back to the Shrub's administration's boast that it was creating reality on a daily basis and the media should get used to it.  Well, as has been demonstrated, facts are stubborn things and have a definite liberal bias.  The 65-70% of the electorate who still believe there is an objective reality must find this whole Trump-Carson phenomenon somewhat alarming.  I know I do.

Diminished expectations

Aside from The Donalds promises to build a bigger, better America, most of the candidates at last night's debate basically told their fellow  countrymen to expect a diminished America, except for the military industrial complex.  As Chris Christie patiently explained to seniors and those on the cusp of retirement the Social Security trust fund was looted long ago and we all better get used to a life of genteel or at least silent poverty.  It is amazing to me we can spend trillions of dollars on unauthorized wars and a half trillion each year to sustain the American empire around the world, but we can't live up to the promises made to those who worked all their lives and contributed to the system.   For this, Christie was lauded by the pundits for "telling it like it is".  The other meme which worked for candidates like Cruz and Rubio was attacks on the "liberal media".  By deflecting the admittedly stupid questions some of the moderators asked with questions as to their political agenda, Cruz drew applause from the base.  Ben Carson sleepwalked through the proceedings, so he will probably take some fire, and Trump continues to lie outright and expect to be believed.  All in all, the so-called debate did little to winnow the field and I'm sure there will be yet another crowded stage next month.  The fact that anyone on that stage could be the eventual candidate of a major political party reduces me to open mouthed stupefaction.

More Republican Follies

The Clown Car stops in Boulder, Col. tonight and a full complement of crazy can be expected.  With Ben Carson leading the polls, expect The Donald and the rest to hammer some of Carson's crazier ideas, such as ending Medicare and Medicaid and his various slavery metaphors, but as long as the good doctor keeps his cool, he will remain the Flavor of the Month among the base.   The paradox of Carson's candidacy is his typical supporter benefits from most of the programs he has vowed to cut.  Indeed, most of the base of the party are unabashed socialists, many collecting government pensions and social security.   The other thing about Carson's popularity which puzzles me is his support from otherwise racist and misogonyst elements of the base.   I guess his rants against his fellow African-Americans cause otherwise racists to overlook his skin color.   Herman Cain in 2012 followed much the same script.  It remains to be seen if Carson can improve on Cain's performance.  The rest of the candidates can be counted on to do anything possible to drag him down.  Get out the popcorn and settle in for a laugher.

Convention post mortems

I must say, the more often I go to conventions; in my case, produce oriented, the less able I am to justify the time and expense they entail.  It seems to me that most of the energy we expend is to "show the flag" to our existing customers and look for the unlikely newbie.   The average company display and personnel cost at the recent PMA convention in Atlanta probably cost in excess of 25,000 dollars, not to mention the dinners, receptions and other networking expenses.  Multiply that by the numerous other confabs offered around the country by regional organizations and the expenses become mind boggling.  Many brokers and even large produce companies are scaling back their participation, but the stigma attached to non attendance at these affairs is harsh.  The implication is the person or organization not displaying is in a straitened economic situation.  I have a feeling after this latest extravaganza there will be some soul-searching, especially if a strict cost-benefit analysis is done.

Republicans' Benghazi fetish

I truly doubt 1 in 10 Americans could find Libya on a map, let alone the city of Benghazi.  That won't stop Republicans from trying to tie Hillary Clinton's Presidential bid to this dusty outpost in a country of chaos.  They grilled the former Secretary of State for 8 hours yesterday and only succeeded in making her look more Presidential than anyone in the Clown Car on the other side.  In boxing parlance, they landed a few glancing blows, but they never bloodied a calm, unruffled Ms. Clinton.  What the Benghazi committee will do next is anyone's guess.  Having spent more time and money on investigating the deaths of 4 Americans than Congress spent on the 9/11 investigation,  and branded by one of their own as a partisan operation, one would hope Trey Gowdy and his merry men will slink back to their burrows.  Unfortunately for them, this travesty will probably continue to play out and instead of damaging Clinton, it will become fodder for Democratic fundraising and commercials leading up to the 2016 elections.

Biden's decision and its consequences

It has been quite a week for political junkies.  The bitter infighting among House Republicans, Paul Ryan's imitation of Hamlet, the looming Benghazi confrontation between Trey Gowdy's transparently political agenda and Hillary and finally, Joe Biden's decision not to get pummeled by another losing Presidential campaign.  Among the pundits and insiders in D.C., Joe Biden is universally well liked, mostly because he plays the inside political game as well as anyone ever has.  Outside the beltway, he is mostly known as a gaffe prone politician with wandering hands.  Fortunately for him, someone with common sense convinced him even with a first class organization he was going nowhere unless he  was willing to become an attack dog.  That doesn't fit with his image and would have been a stretch.  On policy questions there is little or no daylight between him and Hillary and he could not credibly gone after Bernie's fans without denying his own legacy.   A Biden presidency would have been a disaster for Democrats as he would have either cheerfully given away the store to the opposition in the name of bipartisanship, or he would retreat into a fetal position because of his hurt when the Republicans inevitably made a mockery of his attempts at comity.  So now the field is clear.  If Hillary handles 8 hours of testimony today, she will have basically tied up the nomination.  If she stumbles, all bets are off.

Paul Ryan and the Speakership

After an affecting little speech aimed at his recalcitrant brethren in the House, Paul Ryan will sit back for the rest of the week and see if he has tamed the "Freedom Caucus" enough to make his reluctant bid for the Speakership a reality.   Why anyone would want this pseudowonk whose aspirations are more for the other House in D.C. than for wrangling the near hopeless Republican majority is beyond me.   The pundits praise his grasp of the federal budgetary process, but as Paul Krugman points out ad nauseum, Ryan's budgets have always been shot through with magic asterisks which presume all manner of budget cuts and revenue increases without spelling them out or putting in place the actual mechanisms to accomplish his miracles.  That's why they have been DOA throughout his career.  May the Flying Spaghetti Monster help us if he is Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if a Republican President is ever again elected.  Nicknamed the "Granny Starver" because of his advocacy for cutting the very same programs which raised him from the lower middle class to his present eminence, he stands in stark contrast to the newly elected Premier of Canada.  Justin Trudeau was raised in a privileged political family, but seemingly has far more empathy than Ryan.   I almost hope the 40 crazies on the far right of the Republican caucus vote Ryan down.  Let the Republicans elect one of the new breed of  confrontational idiots and we'll finally see the monster the GOP  has been breeding for 40 years.

A New Canadian government

The Liberals (yes, it is not a dirty word in Canada) won a smashing victory in elections yesterday, ending nine years of Conservative rule.   A little cross cultural translation is necessary here.  Conservatives in Canada would probably be somewhat to the left of every Republican candidate for the Presidency here in the US.  The Liberals are somewhere between Hillary and Bernie.  Of course, the devaluation of the loonie and the troubled Canadian economy probably had more to do with Justin Trudeau's victory than any other factor besides the long reign of the Conservatives and their leader, Brian Harper.  How this transition affects the US remains to be seen.  Probably most Americans were not even aware elections were being held in Canada.   The country is seen as an amiable neighbor, but its politics make many people uncomfortable.  The long Conservative rule has lulled many on the right to dismiss Canadian influence.  It remains to be seen if Trudeau and the Liberals can move public opinion in America in a more socially and economically "liberal" direction in time for the election of a Democratic majority in Congress and the Presidency.  I have a feeling the economic situation in 2016 will have more to do with Democratic fortunes than the politics of Canada, but having a Liberal northern neighbor can' hurt, can it?

Sunday and Monday morning freeze

I spent most of Saturday harvesting the last of the warm weather crops like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and squash before the consecutive freezes on Saturday night and Sunday.  It is a ritual every year and I usually watch the veggies go bad over the next couple of weeks as there is way too much for even the extended family to eat fresh.  The temps dipped into the low 20s last night, so even the lettuces which I double covered with spun polyester cloth are probably damaged.  A warm rain is forecast for tonight which will revive the hardier crops, but the handwriting is on the wall.  The growing season is over.  I hope we will see better conditions next year, but I'm not counting on it.

Into the Freezer

Snow showers and the first deep freeze of the season are in the forecast for this weekend on the NCR.  Aside from a few light frosts the weather has been unusually clement for October.  There are still beans, peppers, squash and few eggplant in the garden.  Unfortunately, they will be casualties of the coming frosty assault.  The hardier inhabitants like kale, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and the Chinese cabbages along with carrots and beets will take this weekend in stride and continue to thrive as we warm up next week.   It will be interesting to see what is left when the Divine Mrs. M and I get back from our Italian tour in mid November. 

The coming narrative

The pundits love them a horse race and a glimmering of what they are touting is coming into focus.  With Hillary's strong performance in the Democrats debate, and the new polls showing The Donald pulling away from the Republican establishment candidates, the emerging consensus is for these two to be the candidates of their respective parties.  Of course if Clinton falters when confronting the Benghazi committee or if Trump does something screamingly stupid things will change.   However, this would appear to be the preference of those who treat out quadrennial attempts at governance as a high school popularity contest. 

A civil time was had by all

The Dems had their first debate last night in the slightly jarring setting of a Las Vegas casino.  The stakes were certainly high enough for all concerned.  I think everyone involved can be proud of their performance.  They all got the chance to make their points and in a marked contrast to their Republican competitors there were no personal attacks on each other, illegal immigrants, people of color or gays.  The debate was remarkably substantive, so it probably drew far less viewers than the free-for-alls starring The Donald and a host of others.  Hillary was obviously the most prepared and wonky of the participants and cemented her place as the front runner.  Bernie Sanders was caught off guard a couple of times, but persisted with his message of fiscal inequality which scored well with the audience.  The other participants, Lincoln Chaffee, Jim Webb and Martin O'Malley showed why they are all polling in the low single digits and did nothing to break out of the pack.  I look forward to more of the same in future debates.  I sincerely doubt Joe Biden will jump in at this point.  Hillary's performance should have given him pause.

Las Vegas and Biden's gamble

The Democratic presidential candidates are finally getting their first debate on TV tonight.  That's the good news for them.  The bad is that unless they can't get The Donald  to be in the live audience, their ratings are liable to be worse than a rerun of The Apprentice.  Seriously, the only thing most pundits are  focusing on is the impending announcement from Joe Biden as to whether he will run or not.  What they don't say is if he was in the contest, by now he would have used up the sympathy of his personal history and would be roundly dismissed by the very serious people as a second tier politician who made a good vice president for Obama, but has little to offer by way of policy.  As a senator from Delaware, he basically did as the banks and financial institutions headquartered there instructed him.    He has nothing to say to the middle class except he can see it from the Amtrak train as it carries him home to Wilmington.  The only reason he is being touted is his ability to cause trouble for Hillary.  Let's face it, Bernie Sanders makes most pundits uncomfortable because he indirectly questions their membership in the 1%.  Biden will make them feel good.  It is still a big gamble for Biden and he is probably basing his decision on what happens tonight.  If Hillary stumbles, look for a quick announcement.

Promises of Autumn

The mountains encircling the NCR have assumed their seasonal coat of many colors albeit in somewhat muted shades.  We seem to have gone from green to rainbow in the space of a few days.  Usually when this happens, the leaves drop quickly and the heralds of winter hold forth.  I am hoping it doesn't happen that way this autumn.   The garden continues to produce its bounty and there are ample opportunities for outdoor activities.  The Monzeglio clan gathered at a local brewery to sample the product and enjoy a little live music on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately it was the last such opportunity until next year.  On the plus side, a good time was had by all, even if the Divine Mrs. M's favored libation was root beer. 

The republican circus

Having dispatched John Boehner to a blissful life of golf and lobbying, the republican caucus in the House decided his chosen successor, Kevin McCarthy was a little too honest to front the GOP and thereby found themselves on the horns of a dilemma.  Now, no one wants to ride herd on the fractious cats which make up today's republican party, especially the far right wing crazies, so they may be stuck with Boehner as the only man who can steer the leaky ship through the next few months of high stakes negotiations with the Obama administration.  The beltway media hails Paul Ryan as the only man who can take Boehner's place, but Ryan has already figured out his ambitions to run for president someday would take a fatal hit if he grabs the third rail of the speakership.  Of course, the last time this particular circus came to town, the house leadership chose the relatively unknown Dennis Hastert to be speaker and he delivered the modicum of leadership necessary to keep things moving.  Now, the leadership is in disarray and the few candidates who have announced are horrifically under qualified for the job.  Hopefully the House can at least do the minimum necessary to keep the nation running until the next election, when, hopefully the people will elect grownups to conduct our business instead of a bunch of flying monkeys.

Still feeling the Bern

I am still conflicted about the Democratic party's potential nominees.  As in 2007, I liked Hillary at the start of the campaign, but switched to Obama because I felt he would hew to the traditional values I cherish as a democrat (big and small D).  I'm starting to feel the same way about the present contest.  I still like Hillary and would be happy to vote for her as the first woman president.  She would also provide the added bonus of Bill Clinton as the first First Gentleman.  It would be a formidable team.  Bernie on the other hand appeals to the radical wonk in me.  He is advocating a bloodless revolution which will empower the working and middle classes at the expense of the 1%.  By building a grass roots movement of millions of small donors, he is giving us a stake in the government and our participation in the governing process.  He even appeals to republicans who finally figured out their party is only interested in their votes, not their concerns.  That, unfortunately is what bothers me about the institutional Democratic party.  It is nearly equally beholden to the 1% as the republicans and its chosen nominee, Hillary, Biden, or some other establishment figure will find it hard to cut the strings controlling them.  I have no such concerns regarding Sanders.  If he was 20 years younger, I would already have signed up to work for him.

The Solution that dare not be named

Some of my friends and others questioned my blogging regarding the gun control issue.  Lukewarm support for "common sense gun control" by democrats and absolute opposition to any restriction of "gun rights" by republicans has pretty well stalled anything like progress on this issue.  Less than 50 years ago, both parties subscribed to some well meaning measures and Lyndon Johnson actually signed a bill somewhat limiting guns.  Even as recently as the early 1990s, Ronald Reagan was on record opposing the Saturday night specials.  One of these cheap, disposable handguns nearly ended his life.  Funny how victims of shootings and their immediate family quickly see the virtue of limiting access to guns.  Of course, the real solution to the problem is twofold;  identifying and restricting access by the mentally ill and criminals to guns and rigorous taxing and regulation for the rest of us.  If someone wants to build an arsenal of legal guns, homeland security should know the location of said arsenal and there should be a tax on each and every weapon each year with an increase for each addition to the cache.  A legitimate hunter looking to put food on the table would not have to pay for the privilege, but the dilettante who wants to display 20 different hunting rifles can easily afford the tax.  The same could probably not be said of the Oregon shooter.  Forcing all gun owners to register their guns is well within the government's mandate to protect the commonwealth.  The easy slogans of the NRA regarding second amendment rights need to be challenged in the interests of the vast majority of citizens who are increasingly threatened by the proliferation of firearms.  There are now more guns in the US than people.  What does that say about our national character?

The best month of all

At least in gardening terms, October is the best month of all.  The investment of time, money and effort is paying dividends, as everything from carrots to zucchini is available for consumption and no additional time or work is required except the actual harvest.  The first half of the month looks extremely clement with temps predicted to range from theupper 30s to the upper 60s.  The cauliflower, broccoli, nappa and bok choy will continue to grow, as will the lettuce.   The farmer's market is pretty much history, so much of what is out there will not be harvested except for what friends, family and the local co-op can use.  If I have the time, there is housekeeping to be done and compost to spread, but if not, the world won't end.  The only pressing task is to plant next year's garlic crop before the Divine Mrs. M and I leave for Italy at the end of the month.  In the meantime, I'll bask in the glow of a season with ups and downs but finishing on a high note.

Conservative or reactionary

Whether it is Joe Scarborough complaining there is no solution to the problem of mass shootings at schools because "it's complicated" (spoiler alert; it's not) to Jeb Bush and most of the other republican presidential candidates pushing fossil fuels in the face of abundant evidence that wind and solar are the energy sources of the future, the conservative face of policy has increasingly been to rail at or dismiss progressive alternatives.   As recently as the early 2000s, Paul Krugman points out even Dick Cheney's energy task force looked at renewables and conservation as valid strategies.  There is no hint of this in Jeb!'s energy policy.  Likewise, when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence, conservatives genuflect to the second amendment and throw up their hands, saying it is too complicated to expect legislation to deter mass shootings.  Meanwhile all other industrialized nations have a fraction of the gun violence we experience.  The difference;  they limit the availability of firearms to most citizens.  These are just a couple of policy areas where the forces of reaction have paralyzed a major political party and forced us to endlessly debate the validity of things which all other nations have already settled in favor of progressive alternatives.  

Shoot, rrinse, repeat

Yesterday, ten more people died on the altar of the NRA's obsession with guns.   A visibly angry President asked how 90% of the population is in favor of rudimentary gun control legislation that can't seem to clear Congress.  How is it that literally thousands of people die from gun violence every year in this country while the figures are tiny fractions of that in every other industrialized country in the world.  A tiny minority with outsize power is  holding us hostage to a vampire industry of gun manufacturers and sellers.  With the NRA as its mouthpiece, this gun industrial complex is culpable for many if not most of gun deaths in the US because of its intransigent opposition to any checks on the distribution and sale of firearms.  While background checks of potential purchasers is a starting point, the ultimate goal should be the licensing of every gun owner in the country, the same as licensing every motor vehicle operator.   We don't allow demonstrably crazy people to drive.  They should not have access to guns either.

Truth in government

Not to be outdone by the clowns in the republican presidential nomination car, Kevin Mcarthy let the truth be known regarding the House Select Committee on Benghazi.  Bragging on his qualifications to succeed John Boehner as House Speaker, he told Sean Hannity that he and others in the Republican leadership orchestrated the formation of the committee to attack Hillary Clinton and bring down her poll numbers.  This committee has already lasted longer than the Watergate or 9/11 investigations and follows numerous other probes of the tragedy at Benghazi.   None of them ever uncovered any official wrongdoing concerning the loss of life at the consulate, but the repubs have been using it as a fundraising opportunity and a club to bash Clinton's actions as Secretary of State.  It looks like Mcarthy will be a welcome respite from Boehner's humorless tenure as Speaker.  I foresee many future examples of inadvertent truth telling and foot in mouth moments.  Let the show begin.

Big Stick and America's Phallic foreign policy

For some reason, it looks like most of the republican candidates looked at the awful legacy of the Bush-Cheney administration's foreign policy and decided to double down on the worst aspects.  Torture prisoners, check, threaten sovereign nations with devastating firepower if they don't bend to our will, check; increase the size of our military to a level unmatched by the combined firepower of the rest of the world, check.   The scary part of this is the loving treatment this demented version of foreign policy gets from the national press.  It seems if we can't bomb our way to diplomatic success, the policy is a failure.  Thus our Syrian policy is an unmitigated disaster because we haven't killed enough innocent civilians with indiscriminate bombing and haven't lost any "boots on the ground" to enemy fire.   Chickenhawks like Jeb! and Trump vow to make us the arbiter of the world's fortunes by sheer force of our firepower.  Diplomacy is for sissies and Democrats!  Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, but I wouldn't count on it.  For republicans, nothing sells like absolutism, whether it is banning all abortions or bludgeoning friends and foes into submission.

NY, NY

Didn't post yesterday as the Divine Mrs. M and I were traveling after a weekend in the NY metro area.  We met friends for dinner in Manhattan on Saturday and cheered the Yankees on Sunday.  A visit to the city is always invigorating.  The shifting patterns of the human tapestry that makes up New York is a fascinating study.   Our visit followed on the heels of Pope Francis' whirlwind tour, and coincided with the opening of the UN General assembly and the Global Citizen festival in Central Park.  Any one of these events would have overwhelmed most cities, but New York took it in stride and except for a few street closures it was business as usual.  The incredible ethnic variety of the population and neighborhoods, even as far out as the suburbs in Connecticut where we stayed overnight are the strength of the area.  Back on the NCR, it is a pretty homogenous racial scene by comparison.  We're back, but the lingering effects of the visit will be with us for some time. 

VW and regulatinos

The spectacle of Volkswagen admitting to blatant cheating on emission standards in order to gain sales in the US is more than a little disturbing.  Most of us play by the rules and expect everyone else to also observe them.  Unfortunately, something about the modern corporate structure seems to encourage rule breaking on a massive scale.  From GE dumping PCBs in the Hudson to GM ignoring an ignition switch problem which killed people to VW actively breaking rules and deceiving regulators, ordinary people were involved in lawlessness they probably would not have tolerated in their private lives.  Republicans want to do away with most regulations, leading they say to increased efficiency and more production.  Recent discoveries of wrongdoing on a massive scale by corporations argue instead for increased regulation and perhaps a look at ways we can encourage whistleblowers to step forward and reveal corporate crime.  I don't know if the myriad investigations will kill VW, but a message needs to be sent to people in corporations.  Don't break the law and expect no consequences.

Yogi and a Yankee childhood

Growing up in the late 50s and early 60s there was really only one team to root for if you were a baseball fan.  The Giants and Dodgers had absconded with the hearts of many, but thanks to my grandfather I was a Yankee, through and through.  Probably more than any other player on the team, Yogi was the exemplary Yankee.  His grit and talent (and his way with words) kept me glued to the radio as a 9 and 10 year old.  I idolized Mickey Mantle, but if I had to pick a Yankee to go to bat in a clutch situation, it was Berra.  He would swing at and hit anything from his ankles to his forehead and more often than not it would lead to a hit and a victory.  With 10 world series titles, Yogi spanned an unmatched era of greatness.  Later as a manager, he brought the Yankees and the Mets to the World Series.  My grandfather liked the Yankees because of the Italians on the team, from Tony Lazzeri to Phil Rizzuto to Berra.  Small in stature, Yogi had a big heart and will be missed.

Popemania

As a fallen away Catholic who hasn't been engaged in the faith for nearly 50 years, the 24/7 coverage of Francis' visit to the US is somewhat mind boggling.  The thought of so many people gathering at great expense and discomfort to see an elderly Jesuit makes me even less tolerant of my fellow human beings foibles.  Americans love of celebrity is puzzling.   We profess an egalitarian ethic, but we worship at the altar of celebrity.  Whether it's movie stars, British royalty or the Pope, we gather for a glimpse of the extraordinary.  Personally, I think Francis is a breath of fresh air in a stodgy, behind the times church and I wish him well.  But I'll be humming John Lennon's classic, "Imagine" for the duration of his visit.

More room in the clown car

It must be a diesel powered Jetta, by the way...  Scott Walker exited in a somewhat confused fashion, claiming he was leading by example and exhorting fellow candidates to drop out so somehow everyone could focus on an alternative to The Donald.  Given the egos involved, I have a feeling this advice will be ignored by most of the remaining inmates in this cage match.  I think Walker's exit had more to do with the Koch brothers cutting their losses after seeing their pet politician flounder through the first couple of debates.  His performance in campaign events couldn't have inspired much confidence either.  What the rigors of the competition for the republican nomination revealed is a calculating politician with little imagination and no interest in policy that is not driven by the needs of his funders.   That this cipher should have even entered the race shows the power of a Koch fueled party.   In a normal year, Walker might have gone much further in the race, but Trump and to a lesser extent Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina stole much of his material and continue the fact free campaign most republican primary voters are seeming to demand.

Falling into the void

At 40 degrees this morning, the NCR got a reminder it's not summer any more.  Some of the lettuce growers in Quebec are reporting light frost in their fields this morning.  While it is not out of the ordinary, the recent blast of above normal temps had me briefly fantasizing about a frost free October.   It will warm as the week progresses, but the message has been sent.

Lies, distortions and videotape

The luxury of modern technology means we don't have to listen to 3 hours of bloviation from the passengers in the republican clown car.  We can listen to fact checkers and commenters from across the political spectrum to get the "inside baseball" analysis of who said what and if it was even remotely true.  It turns out, not surprisingly, that lies, distortions and attacks on Donald Trump were the order of the night.  Fiorina, aside from a one liner aimed at Trump's reference to her personal appearance, indulged in a fantasy of her personal history.  Coming from a comfortable upper class background, she, with a lot of assistance from family connections, cracked glass ceilings all the way to HP where she presided over an unmitigated disaster.  As Paul Krugman pointed out this morning, the foreign policy prescriptions of most candidates are "demented".  Mostly they expect the threat of American military power to enable them to dictate terms to friend and foe alike.  We saw how that worked in Iraq!  The thought that any of these ciphers could actually lead the free world is profoundly disturbing.  I would love to see a debate among the contenders from both parties.  With Bernie and Hillary on the same stage, at least it wouldn't be a fact free performance.

Ugly Americans

The spectacle of Dallas police handcuffing a 14 year old for the crime of constructing a clock and bringing it to school was pathetic enough.   The more worrisome aspect of the whole debacle was the fact the boy's teachers reported him to the police.  What does this say about our education system and the people who run it?  The fact the student was brown skinned and Muslim probably had far more to do with the police involvement than virtually anyone was willing to admit.  Despite the shout out from the White House and generally favorable press treatment, it was and is an ugly situation which speaks volumes about the character of America today.   Meanwhile, the republican candidates for president tried to outdo each other in catering to this anti-immigrant sentiment, at least from what I was able to read this morning.  I would prefer a colonoscopy without anesthesia to watching those debates.  According to the inmates at Morning Joe, Carly Fiorina acquitted herself well, while most of the rest of the candidates tried to whittle down The Donald.  Of course even that reporting is suspect considering the source.  Where is John Stewart when we need him.

Bernie and Hillary

A socialist or a woman president.  The history making possibilities are endless for democrats.  However, instead of celebrating this confluence of historical candidacies, the powers that be are running in hysterical circles wondering how they can entice Joe Biden, a thorough going white party hack, to get into the race.  I guess these mostly white, mostly middle aged men can't seem to grasp their hold on the party was irrevocably broken by Barack Obama and a flood of new ideas and unorthodox candidates will become the norm for the party.  It is possible there will be a further exodus of white men from the democratic party in future years, but I think most of the rank and file defectors are already voting republican due to racial considerations.  The small number  of party bigwigs still hope to preserve the "white men in charge" illusion.  That ship has sailed.  Let's celebrate diversity.  People of color, women and old white guys with crazy ideas like economic equality!

Ides of September

Once again we approach that bittersweet time of year.  The days are still warm, but they are getting shorter and the nights are starting to have the chill of fall.  The fall crops are thriving with less and less care, but the summer favorites like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are struggling with less heat input.  The floods of early summer and the following drought are a fading memory as the last month or two of carefree gardening gives me hope for the following year.  It's a fool's paradise, but I'm going to enjoy it as long as possible.

The Daily Disappointment

American media for the most part has abdicated its role in social and political discourse.  From the Iranian Nuclear deal to the refugee crisis in Europe, coverage has been conspicuous by its vacuous dependence on talking heads with an agenda.  Instead of educating the public on these issues, whole forests have been destroyed to tell us about Donald Trump.  In the case of the NYT, it is Hillary's e-mail adventures.  When the media has deigned to tackle the tough issues it has in the main been dismissive of them.  It is no wonder the American people seem so insular and unresponsive to international events.  When an adulterous county clerk in Kentucky  can command nationwide coverage of her hypocritic bigotry for a week, it is a sorry commentary on news coverage in general and the media's lack of respect for the average citizen.  I hope for better, but am prepared for worse.

14 years

While it has been 14 years since the fall of the twin towers, the memories of that day are as fresh in my mind as the day JFK was assassinated.  I guess truly historical events burn themselves into our conscious mind.   The sheer enormity of the crime certainly rivaled the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  But the responses and their effects are so different, it is hard to reconcile them.  In 1941, we had a clear enemy state to battle and citizens were mobilized on a gigantic scale and were expected to sacrifice for the common good.   The atrocities carried out on 9/11 were the work of essentially a criminal gang with an ideology.  Instead of treating it like the crime that it was, the Bush administration used it as a catalyst for a war of hegemony in the Middle East, ostensibly to topple Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to the region.  Of course the billions of barrels of oil under the sands in Iraq may have had something to do with it.  Meanwhile, the Shrub told us to shop on while a tiny minority of the population bore the brunt of the battle.  The soldiers and their families suffered and the rest of us continued our lives without consequence.  Had Osama and his henchman been hunted by the FBI and brought to justice in the conventional way this country would now be seen as a shining example of justice and the law.  Instead, we are commonly viewed as a superpower out of control and disdained by the international community.  It will take a lot longer than 14 years to erase that stain on our reputation.

Rainy weekend

It's probably been 2 months since we've had a weekend rainout and here on the NCR, many people are hoping to continue that stretch as it is the Battle  of Plattsburgh celebration weekend.   Although little known to any but history buffs, the battle which took place in 1814 was a key turning point in the  War of 1812.   Had the British invasion of New England via Plattsburgh and Lake Champlain succeeded, we might be paying for our lattes with loonies instead of greenbacks.  But thanks to the heroism of the vastly outnumbered army and navy, the crack veterans of the Napoleonic Wars were turned back and the unsuspecting Northeast US was saved from a future of universal health care, political correctness and poutine.  USA, USA.....

Refugees and hypocricy

The plight of poor Kim Davis, the county clerk who refuses to issue marriages to gay couples has probably generated more news coverage in the US than the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the fighting in Syria and Iraq.  The thought that we would waste precious time worrying about a hypocritical adulterer when that many people have life and death problems turns my stomach.   As the Divine Mrs. M pointed out, the 10 commandments prohibit adultery, but say nothing about gay marriage.  Ms. Davis, a serial adulterer by biblical standards, will probably not begged to be stoned to death, the approved biblical punishment for that particular transgression.  Why do we even pay attention to this BS.  A more pointed question is how we will react to the refugee crisis.   I have not heard anyone from either party offering to take in a fraction of the number Germany has already welcomed.  Christian nation indeed...

Endless Summer

Even as I say I'll never complain about summer heat again, the thermometer is making me grit my teeth when I say it.   93 degrees on the NCR in September is pretty daunting.  The boaters are still out in force and it looks like the heat will hold on at least until the upcoming weekend.  Maybe it is just an anomalous event, but combined with all the other crazy weather being served up around the world it makes you think about climate change.  Of course, unless we get a bout of 90 degree weather in December, the deniers will just shrug off the increasingly warm weather.  All I know is it is too warm to plant spinach seed and that is a story in itself.

Labor Day and the New American work ethic

When a car company chooses "When did it become an act of courage to leave work on time". as its advertising slogan, you know we've reached a cultural crisis point.   As a child touring model homes with my parents in the early 1960s, we were told the electricity used to run them would soon be so cheap no one would bother to meter our use of it.  Productivity was up in all industries and some work weeks were being shortened to 35 hours.  Now, politicians say we need to work harder and longer hours from the end of formal education until our 70s, often toiling at two or more jobs in order to pay for electricity among other "too cheap to charge for" products and services.  Meanwhile the specter of robots taking over many middle class jobs raises the possibility of an impoverished class of workers unable to find the jobs they were trained for and sinking into a desperate poverty.    Even those who think about these contradictions on a regular basis don't have any prescriptions for dealing with these looming crises.  So we labor on, celebrating our ability to do so with a long weekend.  Then it's back to the 24/7 reality of American labor in the 21st century.

GOP trumped again

The Donald signed the pledge of allegiance to the Republican party yesterday and of course every media outlet had to dissect the motives and end games of the party and it's putative standard bearer.  For some, this was a triumph for the party.   By getting Trump to forswear a third party run, it preserves unity and avoids the specter of a third party candidacy which would doom its election prospects.  For the contrarians it was a takeover of the party by the lunatic fringe in the person of Trump.  By embracing him and legitimizing his brand of know nothing, anti-immigrant and policy free campaigning it has firmly tied the party's fate to the lowest common denominator.  This rapidly aging white male base is fated to get smaller and smaller, making the GOP weaker at best and probably irrelevant by the middle of the century.  Personally, I think Trump will treat this pledge as so much toilet paper and do whatever his evolving strategy dictates.  Either way, republicans are in for a wild ride as the election cycle really kicks in to gear.  Popcorn anyone...

Hot and Dry

Summer was a late comer to the NCR, but has arrived with a vengeance.  We have been relatively warm and dry for several weeks now and the long range shows the trend will continue.  The heavier soils in my garden are still moist, but even the wettest areas are tillable now.  Of course it is too late to plant much of anything but spinach and of course garlic later in the season.  Weeds are still germinating and will be a problem for a couple of more weeks.  All the late season crops of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage etc. look good.   If we get a timely shower sometime next week everything will stay on track.  I'm looking forward to a long, mild fall with my fingers crossed. 

Mixed signals

President Obama flew into Alaska to deliver a sermon about the urgent challenges posed by climate change.  All well and good, except the administration had just approved Shell Oil's bid to drill in the Arctic Ocean.  Mixed signals at best.  The juxtaposition of the two events caused whiplash in the environmental community of activists who naturally question the President's commitment to the fight against climate change.  Although not explicitly, the major oil companies were applauding sotto voce.  As with most of Mr. Obama's policies, I hope he is once again playing eleven dimensional chess while his opponents struggle with checkers.  Perhaps he is banking on Shell's ineptitude at drilling.  After failing miserably last year and being delayed again this year by mechanical problems and protests, the oil company is ripe for an accident.  Even a minor glitch could conceivably kill Ocean drilling before a major accident fouls the northern waters for decades.  The Exxon Valdez accident of the 80s comes to mind.  Meanwhile, the Obama administration pledges to fight hard for the environment and against climate change as it fades in to the 2016 sunset.  Let's hope for the sake of future generations he succeeds.

Tea Pot Tempests

Listening to Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe is probably preferable to incarceration at Guantanamo, but having not experienced the hospitality of the US government, I can't say with certainty which torture I would choose.  The bloviation of the "personalities" who pass through the green room is harmless at best and toxic to normal conversation on a regular basis.  Listening to the host lie outright about the Clinton e-mail "scandal" is a trip on the wayback machine to the late 90s when he chased Bill Clinton's penis around the capital.  To answer the classic question, no, he has no shame!  The scary thing is Morning Joe is the mildest of the right wing talk shows.  Considering the rest of the MSNBC lineup, it is still a wonder the show hogs 3 hours of broadcast time.

Hot times

As even casual readers of this blog know, I complain about the weather.  Most of us who grow significant amounts of vegetables or fruits fret about extremes of weather last week it was too cool in the morning.  This week promises to be too hot for the first week of Sept. on the NCR.  Mid to upper 80s with dry weather except for isolated T-Storms on Thursday is a good recipe to ripen many crops, but most of those were drowned by the incessant rain we had earlier in the season.  The majority of the replacements I planted and transplanted are cool season crops which don't need hot and dry conditions to mature.  The lettuces and brassicas would do well in much cooler conditions.  I still have to transplant the last two lettuce schedules along with some nappa cabbage and bok choy.  That will require a lot of hand watering to get the plants off to a reasonable start.   On the brighter side, we harvested enough tomatoes over the weekend to make a large batch of sauce.  The tomatoes hung in during the worst of the rain and while not a bumper crop, at least there will be some to harvest.  Doubtless next week will bring more weather to distress me.

Cool mornings

Although warmer weather is predicted, it is in the low 50s this morning and it feels like fall.  I still have a couple more plantings of lettuce, bok choy and nappa cabbage, and it's time for planting spinach to overwinter.   But the end of the season is in sight.  As anyone reading this blog knows, it has been a very wet summer here on the NCR and many of the summer crops have suffered due to excessively wet soil.  Now, the opposite is happening.  We have had very little rain for the past 2 weeks and none is predicted over the next 10 days.  There is still abundant soil moisture, but the root systems are all in the top few inches of soil and can't readily move to where the water is.  The bottom line, we need rain again, or the a lot of planting and weeding will have been in vain.  Of course, I'll continue the fight.   Wet or dry, the foolishness continues.

Refugee Armageddon

The latest story of refugee exodus involves Syrians trying to escape the turmoil in their own country by migrating to Germany and Sweden, both of which have liberal resettlement policies.  Unfortunately, in order to get to these promised lands, they have to run the gauntlet of the Balkan countries and Hungary.  The latter is now constructing a 100 mile wall of razor wire to keep the migrants out.  Or at least that is what the government is telling its xenophobic population.  This is just a precursor of what is to come around the world.  Here in America, we have The Donald bragging about a 1000 mile wall across the southern border to keep out illegals.  In Asia, the Malaysians are keeping out refugees from Myanmar and India is trying to stem the flow of Bangladeshis.  As sea levels rise and the political systems around the world try to deal with an ever  increasing tide of migrants trying to escape ecological and political catastrophes, the Golden Rule is being ignored and replaced by a "I've got mine" mentality which bodes ill for a world facing a rising tide of homeless, hopeless people, beggared by policies they had no hand in making.

Trump as the new Evangelical savior

In any right thinking evangelical's mind, Donald Trump is the closest thing to the anti-Christ as there has been in a long time.  While he is not a smooth talker, Trump plays to the hopes and fears of Americans who are increasingly unnerved by the pace of change in modern life.  He focuses on the fear of immigrants, probably because they have little or no defense against his rhetoric.  But behind this bashing of the "others" among us is the unstated belief that women, minorities, the LGBT community and anyone else looking for equality with white men are out of luck in The Donald's world.  Paul Krugman gets it right this morning when he notes that Trump's support on the religious right wing of the Republican party gives the lie to the movement's faith based conservatism.  It's all about retaining white male privilege in a multicultural world.  The men and women of the megachurch milieu want to go back to the 1950s when everyone knew their place and was resigned to whatever station their birth designated them.  If Sarah Palin was the first model of the new evangelical populist, Donald Trump is the new edition; white, male, wealthy and unafraid to espouse intolerance.  So what if he is divorced multiple times, owns casinos and probably hasn't paid a dime in taxes in the new millennium.  He is perhaps the last hope of the dead end haters who blame everyone else for the death of mid twentieth century America.

Three Amigos plus one

The heroic actions of three Americans and a Brit, taking down a potential mass murderer on a high speed train in France was a welcome distraction from the cascade of bad news plaguing the world of late.   Quick thinking and disregard for their own safety enabled the young men to prevent a tragedy.  It makes us feel by association that we might also be capable of something similar if we were presented with the same alternatives.  It's a comforting, if somewhat unrealistic view in a Walter Mitty world.

Beautiful Weekend

Late summer weather on the NCR includes many beautiful days with bright sunshine and low humidity.  When they happen in succession on a weekend, it opens a plethora of choices of what to do.  The Divine Mrs. M and I hiked through a local tourist destination, High Falls Gorge, in Wilmington, New York.   We enjoyed the experience, along with lunch at a local landmark diner in Keene Valley, then back to the house where weeding, mowing and planting awaited attention.  Got a remarkable amount accomplished, but much more needs to get done.  We are approaching the season of harvest only, my favorite time of the gardening year. 

Might as well Trump

With apologies to Van Halen, their hit "Jump" would be the perfect theme song for The Donald's campaign.  The opening  line alone is perfect; "I get up and nothing gets me down".  It only goes on from there and the infectious chorus; "Might as well jump" just needs to be changed to "Might as well Trump" to tap into the current American zeitgeist.  Why go with Jeb! or Rand or some other loser politician when you can have a celebrity like Trump who says outrageous things and trivializes the world's problems and the people who try to solve them.  Might as well Trump, indeed.

The Donald and the Kingfish

The Donald's appeal to a certain segment of the American electorate should come as no surprise to anyone with a passing acquaintance with our history.  From the "know nothing" party of the 1840s to the present, there is an undertone of intolerance and animosity toward immigrants and people of color.  This hatred is often wrapped in populism.  One of the most famous examples of this type of populism is Huey Long.  A governor of Louisiana during the great Depression, Long was a self promoting politician who started as a supporter of FDR, but eventually broke with him and in league with the racist priest Charles Coughlin planned a presidential campaign in 1936.  Personal scandals eventually broke his dreams, but in his heyday, he appealed to the same sort of "ugly American" that Trump seems to have found.  The difference is Long was a politician who actually got things done for his constituents and ran campaigns based on issues, albeit wrapped in a racist, immigrant bashing agenda.  Trump is a pure narcissist who has no agenda other than pulling down his rivals and basking in the media attention his candidacy has attracted.  The scary part of this whole scenario is that he taps into the deep hatred the Republican party has stirred up against government as something good for the people.  Instead there is a call for destruction with no alternative.   That a billionaire buffoon should ride this wave of solipsistic anarchy to become the nominee of a major political party is to call the whole American experiment into question.  Even the Kingfish would have had second thoughts.

Down to the Wire

I transplanted the last sowings of lettuce and Chinese cabbage to the secondary bed last night.  I stopped seeding transplants last week, so aside from spinach and turnips, I am done with seeding for the season.   It's always a bittersweet transition as the growing season comes to an end and I begin spending more time weeding and harvesting.  The late summer stars like tomatoes, peppers and beans are becoming more available and the larger plantings of broccoli and cauliflower are starting to head up.  Weeds are the big focus right now, but I still have 4 more transplant beds of lettuce to put out, so I guess it will be a while before the last salad of the season lands in a bowl.

Guilty pleasures and similar personalities

Listening to a disembodied voice pontificate on Tiger Wood's place in the pantheon of golf heroes is probably not what most people would choose to listen to on a drive to work.   The essentially ridiculous nature of the discussion on the PGA channel on XM radio embarrassed me enough to change the channel to another staple on my radio, MSNBC, where Joe Scarborough was holding forth on Marco Rubio and his chances at the Republican nomination for president.  The similarity was striking and I began to wonder what it says about the frontal cortex of someone who listens to such drivel on a regular basis.