I'm still here

A liberal is someone who feels he owes a great debt to his fellow man,

which he proposes to pay off with your money

Undaunted by a bunch of medical issues I’m still hanging around, writing on occasion, still mourning the loss of my wife, cluttering up the house, driving the kids crazy, snarling at business as usual politics, and hopefully irritating the daylights out of the loony left.  Like a good many other Americans, I also keep track of the news reports on what I learned in school many years ago to call “Current Events”.  (Despite the loud objections of liberal English majors about Sarah’s use of the term a few years ago).  Following the news, I’ve concluded that the sanity of the entire civilized world seems to be on rather shaky ground, with the third world not far behind! 

Russian imperialism is on the march once again in Syria and Iraq, (following the Ukraine escapade), while Mr. Putin seems to be laughing at the leaderless west and trying to restart the cold war.  China is happily making threats all over Southeast Asia.  North Korea is once again rattling her saber at South Korea and the U.S.  Moslems are happily massacring fellow Moslems and Christians throughout Europe and the mid-east, while Iran is threatening everybody in Southwest Asia with a nuclear holocaust, which, despite Mr. O’s assurances, the somewhat temperamental Israelis appear to be taking very seriously.  The troubles we face in Iraq and Afghanistan are far from being resolved, ISIS terrorism is still going strong with strikes all over the world, now with the threat of “dirty bombs” using radioactive materials swiped by the Russian underworld and sold to Islamic terrorists.  In response, Mr. Obama is cutting US military strength to its lowest level in over eighty years.  The industrialized world’s economy, led by the United States, is still in the basement and looks to be getting even worse, and now I understand, some U.S. citizens are even refusing to accept U.S. Dollars in exchange for their labor!

Things aren’t much better on the home front it would seem, we’re still loosing the long-term war on drugs, yet we’re now legalizing marijuana!  Social Security is still on the verge of bankruptcy thanks to Congress continually raiding the kitty to support assorted pork barrel projects.  The TSA is still strip-searching babies and little old ladies, overly zealous “Zero Tolerance” school discipline policies continue to victimize kids and make fools of assorted School Boards, “political correctness” now overrules Freedom of Speech, and ObamaCare remains “egg on the face” in Washington and an economic disaster to the rest of us. (One forecast claims that ObamaCare will collapse under it’s own weight within a year.)  Recent politically correct court orders are handing a couple of Muslim truck drivers a small fortune each after they were fired for refusing to deliver a load of beer on religious grounds, while Christians who refuse to provide a wedding cake (on religious grounds) for a same sex wedding can cost a Mom and Pop bakery it’s business license!  (Double standards anyone?)  Babies are still being killed (aborted) in wholesale lots in the interest of “choice”.  I’m not sure how much forestland we lost to wildfires this year (thanks mostly to the environuts and their weird “natural” ideas), but it seems like "most of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and a touch of Montana” would be fairly descriptive.  Some schools are adding Islamic prayer rooms for the convenience of Moslem students, yet a High School football coach who happens to be a Christian got fired for praying during a ball game.  Politicians and wannabe Presidential candidates are happily lambasting each other, and the media, yet again, and of course the leftist media keeps telling us how wonderful things are under Obama. 

I have learned much from that same media in recent months though.  For instance, while black lives matter, other lives don’t matter.  Street hoods are really the good guys apparently, and the cops are wanton murderers.  The economy stinks, the Middle Class is shrinking, the Average Family income is still dropping, Black youths have over a 50% unemployment rate, Hispanic youth unemployment is over 35%, and after 7 years in office none of this is Obama’s fault.

Eric Snowden and General Petraeus were pilloried in the liberal press for breaking laws about releasing and-or not securing classified documents, but Hillary Clinton of course is totally innocent of any responsibility for doing exactly the same thing.  After all, “What difference does it make?”  Apparently we’re to believe that republicans want dirty air, dirty water, oil spills, trash on the streets, polluted oceans, old people without medical treatment, illegal immigrants and our own young people without educations being paid the lowest wages possible, and starving children wandering the streets.  The republicans started every war in American history according to one liberal claim, and of course those same nasty right wing people have some sort of a “war on women” going on as well, and they don’t believe in equal rights either.  Oh Yeah, don’t forget that everything is still Bush’s fault.  On top of everything else, Mr. O gives every impression that he hates our allies, loves our sworn enemies, and is totally afraid of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea (and probably a mouse as well)!  With that, he’s doing his best to turn us into a completely disarmed third (forth?) world country!  And… Anyone who disagrees with his agenda is automatically considered a racist… and potential terrorist.

I certainly do not understand what has happened to the country I grew up in, or to the people living here in those days, who would, at the drop of a hat, fight the devil himself to defend our Constitution, citizens, and nation.  Try this modern liberal sort of crap with my feisty old Irish grandpappy and with naught but a blackthorn shillelagh in hand he’d definitely change a lot of attitudes!  When I was growing up, we saluted the flag… proudly.  We recited the Pledge of Allegiance… proudly.  We served in the military… proudly. And we did it all in English, no matter what our “native” language was.  We respected the cops, cussed at the taxman, helped our neighbors, worked for a living, and carried on with our lives as best we could without government handouts, or being told that the uber rich owed us anything.

Welcome to the new “feel good” world order of the loony left, and an entire generation of Americans that seem to have lost their minds, their manhood, and the American dream.  A new socialist world in which morality, honesty, respect, and truth seem to have been relegated to the ranks of historical oddities. 

Is it time for a real national leader yet, or is an uninformed electorate going to stick us with yet another leftist dilettante for four more years?  

President

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by

letting the Government take care of him;  better take

a closer look at the American Indian."----- Henry Ford

As I get deeper into my twilight years, I realize that it’s inevitable that one of these days the party will end. There will be a morning when there isn't any more tomorrow, no special occasions to celebrate with friends, no more phone calls just to shoot the breeze, and of course no more time to spend with the grandkids.  It would seem that one of the more important things to do before that morning comes, is to let your family and friends know that you care for them, in part by finding simple ways to let them know your heartfelt beliefs and the guiding principles of your life, so that they can always say, "He was my friend and I knew where he stood."  So, just in case I'm gone tomorrow morning, please know this:

I voted against LBJ, who, while perhaps a competent rural Texas politician, was totally lost in the big league of national and international politics.  While giving us the failed “War on Poverty”, and the equally disastrous Vietnam War, he felt that, like Hitler, he was oh-so much-more knowledgeable about military affairs than his Generals, and wound-up with the same result that Hitler got.

I voted against Jimmy Carter, who, while possessing a mouthful of teeth, a naval academy education, and a peanut farm, seemed totally lost in the entire world of politics, doing little more than piously bleating “Peace in our time”.  Carter gave us amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders, an energy crises, the Chrysler bailout, and the Iran hostage crisis.  Small wonder he didn’t get reelected.

Ronald Reagan I liked, warts and all, and I did vote for him, twice.  Say what you will about the Iran-Contra affair and the upward spiraling national budget on his watch, he did engineer the economic collapse of the USSR, and the end of the Cold War.

I voted for Bush the Elder, a good man who tried hard, and who made two really major mistakes.  His boastful “No New Taxes” promise was the first, while stopping half way to Baghdad and victory in the first Iraq War was definitely a world-class screw-up.

The “Bill and Hill” dog and pony show just had to be one of the worst disasters ever to hit the American political arena, and did most certainly did not get my vote in either election!  Despite his apparently high approval rating, Bill gave us NAFTA, Travelgate, the Whitewater affair, the war in Yugoslavia, Monica Lewinski, a string of lies that has yet to end, and last but not least an impeachment circus.  President Reagan thought so highly of Presidential Honor and Prestige that he refused to wear his preferred jeans and cowboy boots to work every day, opting instead for a suit and tie, the coat of which he never removed while in the Oval Office.  Slick Willie on the other hand thought so little of that same office that he apparently had kneepads issued to White House interns!  Hillary in the meantime somehow managed to antagonize just about everybody on the White House staff and then tried to swipe half the furnishing when she moved out!

I voted for Bush the Younger, another good man who tried hard.  Unfortunately he had an incredible run of bad luck, and was completely overrun by a mad stampede of world events that he had absolutely no control over.

As to the present day; I twice voted against the individual described by one pundit as “the incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, militarily inept, scientific and economic moron currently living in the White House!”  “Nuff said about this guy.

What comes next I really don’t know, as that’s for the upcoming election to decide.  But so far I’m not real impressed with the current crop of candidates from either party.  On one side we’ve got an incompetent Vice-President running against an avowed socialist, and an old woman with delusions of grandeur.  On the other side of the aisle there are a couple on nonentities, a Doctor who really should stay with medicine, a guy that wants to start a family tradition of becoming President, and a really rich guy who thinks he can solve any problem by firing everybody in sight.  (He’s also the only one that even begins to make any sense, which is plenty scary in itself!)

For the moment the primary argument amongst these candidates centers on gun control, lack thereof.  Face it folks, most politicians don’t seem to realize that denying people the right to defend themselves only means that we can passively sit around and wait to be killed by some madman.  (Such as what happened on 9-11 when a few suicidal Arabs armed with box cutters of all things, took over some airliners and killed a few thousand defenseless Americans.)  The recent case of one nut going out and killing nine innocent (and again defenseless) people made all the headlines for days on end.  The fact that a hundred plus million American gun owners didn’t shoot anybody on that sad day wasn’t even mentioned.  Demanding more gun control laws because you think that criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids!  It takes a particular type of stupid to actually believe that those same criminals will obey new gun laws, considering that they completely ignore the old laws! 

In the interest of controlling my blood pressure, I’m not even going to begin discussing our liberal politician’s current war on American values! 

What we need in this country is fewer laws, and a lot more justice.

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

Robert A. Heinlein

Wildfire

(Part one)

With the current extended drought, unseasonable high temperatures, a steady stream of thunderstorms, and our current fire situation, thoughts all over the west are turning to major forest fires, and the devastation of a century ago.  In the summer of 1910, a series of forest fires swept over Idaho and Montana, culminating on August 20–21 in what is known as the "Big Blowup."  Today many of us think of that fire, look at our current situation, and we wonder. 

On Saturday afternoon, August 20, 1910, all hell broke lose in the northwest.  Hurricane-force winds, unlike anything seen since, roared across the rolling Palouse of eastern Washington and into Idaho and Montana forests so dry they crackled underfoot.  In a matter of hours, fires became firestorms, and trees by the millions became exploding torches. Millions more, sucked from the ground, roots and all, became flying fireballs. It was dark by four in the afternoon, save for wind-powered fireballs that rolled from ridge top to ridge top at seventy miles an hour. They leaped canyons a half-mile wide in one fluid motion. Entire mountainsides ignited in an instant.  It was like nothing anyone had ever seen.  Reportedly, by noon on the twenty-first, the day had turned dark as far north as Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, as far south as Denver, and as far east as Watertown, New York. To the west, the sky was so filled with smoke, ships 500 miles at sea could not navigate by the stars.  There was no stopping or containing the fire; one could only hope to avoid it. Trains raced to evacuate towns just ahead of the flames. Forester Edward G. Stahl recalled that flames hundreds of feet high were "fanned by a tornadic wind so violent that the flames flattened out ahead, swooping to earth in great darting curves, truly a veritable red demon from hell." In the same instant that towns and timber alike perished, heroes were made, legends were born, and history changed forever.

Before it was over, 10,000 men were on fire lines that stretched from eastern Washington across the Idaho panhandle well into western Montana. The names of the fires they fought sounded more like the names of Civil War battlefields than anything else: Big Creek, Setzer Creek, Stevens Peak, Storm Creek, Bullion Mine, Cedar Ridge and Little North Fork. In some canyons, you could not tell where one battlefield ended and the next one began.  The fire burned three million acres and killed enough timber to fill a freight train 2,400 miles long. Eighty-six people perished, most burned beyond recognition.

Every able-bodied man available fought the rampaging flames. Most were Idaho loggers, miners from Butte, Montana, and skid row bums brought in on trains from Spokane. The pay was 25 cents an hour, plus a bedroll, sourdough pancakes, coffee and canned tomatoes. 

On October 8, 1871 the worst recorded forest fire in North American history swept through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, destroying millions of dollars worth of property and timberland, several communities, and taking between 1,200 and 2,400 lives.  The Peshtigo Fire was a forest fire that burned in and around Peshtigo, Wisconsin. It was a firestorm that caused the most deaths by fire in United States history.  Occurring on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, the Peshtigo Fire has been largely forgotten.  Yet on that same day the cities of Holland and Manistee, Michigan burned, and the same fate befell Port Huron at the southern end of Lake Huron as well.

On the day of the Peshtigo Fire, a cold front brought strong winds that fanned the fires, escalating them to a massive firestorm ensued.  A firestorm is sometimes called nature's nuclear explosion.  We have a wall of flame, a mile high, five miles wide, and traveling 90 to 100 miles per hour.  Hotter than a crematorium, the bodies of the dead simply melt and disappear, while even sand is turned into glass.   By the time Peshtigo was over, 1,875 square miles, or 1.2 million acres of forest had been consumed, an area approximately twice the size of Rhode Island. Some sources list 1.5 million acres having burned.  Twelve communities were destroyed.  An accurate death toll has never been determined because local records were destroyed in the fire. Between 1,200 and 2,500 people are thought to have lost their lives.

The worst natural disaster in Minnesota history, the Cloquet Fire of 1918, claimed nearly 500 lives in a single day. The fire began after sparks from local railroad tracks ignited dry brush. When the flamed abated, as many as 38 communities had been razed to the ground, 250,000 acres had been scorched, 52,000 persons had been injured or displaced and the costs mounted to nearly $75 million.

The summer of 1988 saw the largest wildfire breakout in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park. By the time the fire subsided, despite modern firefighting technology, nearly 800,000 acres had been burned over, roughly a third of the entire park. Surprisingly no lives were lost as a direct result of the flames, even though as many as 25,000 firefighters reportedly battled the conflagration.

Could it happen again?  Most certainly…  Wildfire season is definitely here, and so far 2015 is shaping up to be another spectacular fire year, particularly in our drought suffering western states.  Unfortunately, major blazes are becoming the rule rather than the exception, and not necessarily “Only” because of the enviro’s much touted global warming.  It's a trend that comes quite naturally with our changing climate of course, a massive drought, and nearly a century of misguided environmentalism and forest planning that only grows worse every day. 

So it could be that the worst wildfires in U.S. history will be the ones that have yet to happen.  That’s scary, considering the damage that wildfires have done in the past.  Perhaps, with a little luck, proper planning, common sense, and continued effort on the fire suppression folks, this year will not be a sign of things to come.

To our firefighters holding those oh-so precarious fire-lines today, I can only say “Thank You… and be safe”.